DIY: How to change ignition coils and condensers

Today we're taking a further look on my 1963 Evinrude Sportwin 10 hp. I got it as I mentioned from a man who had bought it new in 1963, he even had the original owners handbook for the engine! Sadly the original petrol tank had been stolen somewhere back in time.

I tried to start the engine a couple of days ago, but it didn't quite fire. It more or less coughed a couple of times but not much more than that. So, I pulled the flywheel off to inspect the ignition system, and here is what the ignition coils looked like.

The coils were badly corroded and cracked, so I had to replace them. I also chose to replace the condensers just in case, but deemed the points fit for work.

I ordered the coils and condensers monday evening, and today (wednesday) I got them. That's some quick delivery!

Anyway, I started to tear it apart.

The coils on this engine are attached with three bolts. Remove them, unscrew the HT leads and the positive and ground leads.

Here is the first coil and condenser removed. Clean the baseplate thoroughly before installing the new parts.

New coil versus old one

New coil and condenser trial fitted

Attach the HT lead,ground and positive wire the same way as they were. Obviously.

Reinstall bolts, check coil alignment.

The same procedure goes for coil and condenser number two.

Here are the new parts installed

Set point gap. Many OMC engines (Johnson/Evinrude) uses 0.020" point gaps. See your engines manual for correct specs for your engine.

Reassemble flywheel

Prepare for start up. The Evinrude fired on the first pull! 

1961 Johnson Seahorse JW-17 3 hp

Well.. I've stumbled upon another one. This time it is a Johnson Seahorse JW-17, 3 hp.

I promised myself (and well, my girlfriend!) that I wouldn't buy another one in a while, since I've already got quite a few engines. But.. Sometimes you get those rare, but loved, unassuming phonecalls. This time it started something like this:

Rriinngg-rriingg

-Hello?

- "Yeah, hi there, you like those old outboards, don't you?"

- Yeah, a little.. (Me trying to hide my enthusiasm!)

-" well, I've got this old, probably 60's, Johnson 3 hp that you can have if you like"

- Okay, nice. What's the asking pri.. (Caller interrupts me mid-sentence)

-"never mind, just come get it!"

And the best part was that the caller lived a mile from my house! I immediately jumped in my car and went to get it.

The caller told me he hadn't run it for the last five years, and couldn't promise that it worked. Well, that is really no problem since my passion is tinkering with these engines!

When I got it back home, I proceeded to check for spark, compression, all that usual, and found that all was well. I gave it some fresh gas and some starting gas and it fired on the third pull and ran perfectly! 

It is complete except for the bottom shroud (the lower part of the 'egg'), but that's no big deal considering the price was 0€.

Here are some pics of it.

By the way, I have no idea why it has stains of green paint on it. Oh, if these engines could talk!

Look at that shine! All original paintwork

Weedless gearcase

It really only needs a thorough cleanup

And here it is with it's older sister, the 1951 Seahorse HD-26 2.5 hp

A Seagulls second chance, part 2

Today, I continued to work on the '60 Seagull. As I wrote in part 1, the engine had seized from sitting but I got it turning over by squirting oil into the cylinder. 

I was going to do something else with the engine today, but when I turned it over I noticed it had seized up again! Strange, I thought, since the cylinder bore was clean and well oiled. 

The Seagull engine has very few moving parts, so I decided to take a closer look at what was causing this. I turned the prop by hand, and thats when I noticed that the gears in the lower unit had locked up. 

Now then, nothing else to do than to take the lower unit apart and free it up.

Here is the lower unit as it looked when I started.

Here is the lower unit. The unit was still locked up after removing it, and the engine turned over just fine, so here is our problem.

I removed the prop and split the gear case in half.

This is when I did a "shocking discovery" (as any American documentary narrator would say!). The old gear oil/grease had completely dried up, lost its shape, and jammed the gears. The grease felt and looked just like saw dust! Never seen anything like it before.

Next step is to remove the prop shaft and gears from the housing. 

To do this, you must remove the locking pin by hitting it with a ball pein hammer.

And this is what the gear housing and gear looked like after removal

Cleaned the parts with some brake cleaner (CRC:s Bräkleen does a great job) and some sandpaper. Afterwards, it looked like this.

The smaller gear has already been greased in this picture, therefore the slimey bottom of the gear case

Prop shaft and gear in place, all greased up

Impeller housing

Finished product. Works like a charm!

Tune in for part 3.

 

Restoration: A Seagulls second chance, part 1

Today, I'm starting a new series of updates here on the Petrolist blog. This is going to be an informative, step-by-step manual showing my usual ways of getting around an engine from the moment of getting my hands on it to the moment of the first start up.

In this series, we are going to bring a British Seagull back to life, hence the name of the series. The engine in question is a 1960 Century. Serial number LLS 16614.

It is pretty much the same engine as my 1967 Century Plus. The only real differences are that the 1960 uses a Villiers ignition, when the 1967 uses a Wipac ignition. The '60 is a standard shaft. The flywheels are different (not only cosmetically), and the 1967 looks overall more modern.

Here is the engine (almost) as found. Haven't done anything to it yet in these pictures, except wiping off a little dust off of the gas tank, and cleaning up the area of the serial number.

The was seized up from sitting, but after squirting some engine oil into the cylinder and letting it sit a few moments it freed up and turns over quite good now.

I'm not going to do a total restoration on this engine, since under all the dirt and grime lies a real gem to be found, and as usual, original condition is always better than restored. Except when the engine is beyond the point of being resurrected and has to be totally restored. But thats a different story.

Serial number LLS 16614 makes it a 1960

Tune in soon for part 2!